Hello, I'm Father Joe Roche of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception.

Thank you for joining us as we continue with our year-long journey,

reading the diary of St. Maria Faustina Cavalska from beginning to end.

Today we take up from where we left off, beginning with Diary Entry Number 1654.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph Diary Entry Number 1654

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, O truth, O thorny life,

In order to pass through you victoriously, it is necessary to lean on you, O Christ, and to be always close to you.

I would not know how to suffer without you, O Christ, and to be always close to you. I would not know how to suffer without you, O Christ.

Of myself, I would not be able to brave adversities.

Alone, I would not have the courage to drink from your cup.

But you, Lord, are always with me, and you lead me along mysterious paths.

A weak child, I have begun the battle in your name. I have fought bravely, though often without success,

and I know that my efforts have pleased you, and I know that it is the effort alone which

you eternally reward.

O truth, O life and death struggle, when I rose to do battle, an inexperienced night, I felt

I had a night's blood, though still a child, and therefore, O Christ, I needed

your help and protection. My heart will not rest from its efforts and struggle until

you yourself call me from the field of battle. I will stand before you, not to receive a reward, but to be drowned in you,

in peace, forever. Oh, Christ, if my soul had known all at once what it was going to have to suffer

during its lifetime, it would have died of terror at the very sight.

It would not have touched its lips to the cup of bitterness.

But as it has been given to drink a drop at a time, it has emptied the cup to the very bottom.

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